


Remember Me, I Used To Live For Music

by highfantastical



Category: Richard II - Shakespeare
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M, Miserable in the City, Oxford, University, five things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-01
Updated: 2011-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-14 07:53:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highfantastical/pseuds/highfantastical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin. Five cities in which Richard Bordeaux underwent reproof.</p><p>[This is a speculative snippet branching off from the Academia!AU, written mainly by Gileonnen and Angevin2, but at this point also by much of the rest of our fandom. This 'five things' fic is not, however, AU canon or in any way official.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remember Me, I Used To Live For Music

_London._ He is as angry as he could possibly be, and the tall bear soars into the air as high as his arm can send it. As it flies, the golden fur is winking, because the morning is full of winter light, but then it sinks quietly, and oddly fast, into the waters of the Serpentine - and nobody will be able to retrieve it. 'Ei, it was the great gift of your uncle,' says Victoire, and tugs hard on his narrow, slippery hand. 'Madame will be fâchée.' She hurries him away, and the heels of his boots smack the pavements like a metronome that's been set too fast.

*

 _Oxford._ 'Your tutors - and I too,' he says, ' - have indulged you thus far. We believed, perhaps with undue faith, that you would be ready in your last year with us to put away thespian things and devote yourself to the compassing of those honours which we have anticipated from the time of your housemaster's first letter to Dr Burley.' Richard's hands are folded sharply in his lap, and the creamy wool scratches at his knuckles. 'We will tolerate - but not applaud - a scraped First. But I will not have you back, I think.' Richard looks away from the Principal's face, out at the silvery leaves beyond the window. The Psalm from the chapel has stopped, and the silence that follows its high, distant music is a cold one; it doesn't feel fitted to October, and the nights still warm.

'Simon has told me what you want,' he says, 'And I have no doubt that a book of that nature would be a salutary awakening to some of the more staid practitioners amongst your brethren. I am less sure that you are the one to write it - but should you prove me wrong - ' The Principal dismisses him, with a firm flap of the hand.

Richard pulls the sleeves of his gown straight, and thinks that he had better find that list Simon gave him - probably Robbie has buried it under the invitations. It is Michaelmas and third week, and he would like to see another such.

*

 _Verona._ There are worse people by whom one can be found. Thomas Carlisle has allowed Richard to cling to his sinewy arm as the streets reel under him, and to lie, sweaty and dazed, in his clean hotel sheets, not quite understanding how he got there. 'I wasn't - ' he begins, 'I didn't - '

Thomas Carlisle says, 'I have brought you some coffee, although I'm not sure you ought to have it. I want to take you back to Rome as soon as possible, Richard.' He looks very weary. 'Edward came to me. He didn't know what had happened.'

*

 _New York._ And in the bar, Henry meets his eyes. They are not new eyes. Richard's glass shivers in his hand, as though the ice had come to life. And Henry's face becomes calm and firm, just like the face of his son, and his eyes slip away from Richard and look into the tight-packed crowd, and then whatever he has pretended to see becomes so inexorably absorbing that he follows it, and the ice in Richard's glass clinks to itself.

*

 _Berlin._ 'Please - don't try to stop me,' she says. 'I'm glad you're here, but not because I want you to - look after me, or anything. I won't get hurt. And this matters so much - this _matters_.'

~


End file.
